Mark wrote
In his interesting summary, John Williams wrote:
"There's certainly a younger generation of British crime
writers with an
> explicit American influence.
I also believe there is a younger generation of British
crime writers
> with an explicit British influence. For instance, I
was surprised not
> to see Russell James in your summary. Although the
blurb on the back of
> most of his books compares him to David Goodis, I
think he's far closer
> to Ted Lewis.
Yes pure oversight on my part - I really like Russell James -
in fact it's my quote that compared him to Goodis - though
that was in a review of Underworld, not the most typical of
his books. I agree he definitely has a very British
sensibility- and I should have stressed that I think there is
some very exciting British crime-ish writing going on at the
moment - as the crime consultant at Serpent's Tail I've been
very proud to have had a hand in publishing David Peace,
Nicholas Blincoe, the very funny Mark Ramsden, the very funny
Danny King, the very singular Ken Bruen and, imminently, the
very dark Sean Burke, not to mention , for one book, Russell
James himself.
As for my fellow Cardiffian James Hawes - White Merc With
Fins is still in development, though looking livelier than it
has for a while. Meanwhile James' new book, White Powder,
Green Light, out this Sept, will tell the fictionalised story
of the disaster that was Rancid Aluminium the movie.
John
> James Hawes (can't believe his White Merc hasn't
been made into a movie)
> and Nicholas Blincoe were the first of the new UK
crime writers I ran
> across, both introduced to me by the British dance
music magazine,
> Muzik. Then, while tracking down Derek Raymond
shorts, I discovered the
> Serpent's Tail and Fresh Blood authors contained in
the same
> anthologies. I felt like I had blundered on
something new and exciting,
> a younger generation rattling cages. It had been a
long time since I'd
> felt that with any US writer, not since George
Pelecanos and/or Michael
> Cormany (early Ellroy, too, in style, but he didn't
ally himself with
> youth culture, actually railed against it at
times).
>
> Mark
>
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